Strap holding device



Nov. 1, 1966 .1. M. SCHUMACHER 3,281,909

STRAP HOLDING DEVICE Filed NOV. 6, 1964 United States Patent 3,281,909 STRAP HOLDING DEVICE June M. Schumacher, 15604 21st St. SW., Seattle, Wash. Filed Nov. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 409,517 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-198) This invention relates to holding devices adapted to confine a ribbon, belt, strap, or the like in a given preferred relationship with a garment.

It is an object of the invention to provide such a device which may be inexpensively manufactured and profitably sold at a low price, and which may be readily installed within a womans outer garment for guiding and holding a strap such as the strap of a slip and/or other undergarment to maintain this in proper relationship with said outer garment.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a device which embodies integrally within its structure a fastening means operable without special skill or instruction, to securely fasten the device to said garment in a position where it will be hidden within said garment.

A further object is to provide such a device in which the fastening means hooks into the surplus fabric adjacent a seam of said outer garment in such a manner as to lock said device to said fabric until said device is deliberately distorted to remove the same.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a device in which a split eye is provided for holding a strap therein which may be readily distorted to receive said strap therein or to remove said strap therefrom, but which normally lies flat between said outer garment and the body of the wearer and retains the strap therein until the latter is intentionally removed.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as further objects and advantages will be made clear in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention with this installed within an outer garment by hooking the same into the extra material provided in said garment adjacent a shoulder seam therein.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1 superimposed upon a piece of fabric belonging to an outside garment and showing said device secured to said fabric by an alternate means, to wit by sewing the same to said fabric by loops of thread encircling the hooks of the device.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating a second alternative mode of sewing said device to the fabric of an outer garment and in which the thread applied in sewing said device to the fabric is looped around the central stem of said device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, at a decreased scale, illustrating the approximate location in which the device of the invention is applied to an outer garment in a normal use of the same.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 and illustrating the relationship of the outer fabric of an outer garment in which said device is installed with the inner fabric of said garment to which the device is attached and the relation of a shoulder strap passing through said device so that said strap is held in a given desired relationship with said outer garment.

Referring specifically to the drawings the preferred form of the invention illustrated therein comprises a strap holding device which may be molded or die-cut of any type of plastic or other suitable material, polystyrene being one material very suitable for this purpose. The device 10 is preferably made all in one piece and so as to lie in a single fiat plane and includes a central unifying stem 11 having cross members 12 which are integrally united with said stem and extend in opposite directions from opposite ends of said stem so that portions 13 of said cross members form angles of approximately 85 degrees with said stem and portions 14 of said cross members from angles of 95 degrees with said stem.

Portions 13 of cross members 12 have hooks 15 formed at their outer ends which curve inwardly into close proximity with each other and with a central portion of the unifying stem 11. The hooks 15 are shown in the drawings as preferably juxtaposed in approximate contact with each other at their inner pointed ends and also approximately in contact with stem 11. Although this relationship is preferable and highly desirable, it may be found practically desirable to make the devices 10 with a slight gap between adjacent ends of the hooks 15 and between these hooks and the stem 11.

Portions 14 of cross members 12 are provided at their ends with jaws 16 having inward serrations 17, said jaws extending in alignment into close proximity with each other at their inner ends. The cross member portions 14 and jaws 16 unite to form a split strap holding eye 18. The outer edges of jaws 16 near their inner ends are bevelled to form a notch 19 to assist the feeding of a strap into eye 18.

While juxtaposed inner ends of jaws 16 are shown as in actual contact in the drawings, the invention may operate satisfactorily with a slight space separating said aws.

The hooks 15 have arched outer edge surfaces which form a guide notch 20 between these hooks which performs the important function of assisting the guiding of fabric between said hooks when mounting the device 10 on such fabric.

The device 10 is preferably mounted on the surplus fabric 25 which is ordinarily provided on opposite sides of a shoulder seam 26 which runs laterally along the shoulder from the neck of a great majority of womens apparel. The manner in which the device 10 is mounted in the fabric 25 is clearly shown in the perspective view of FIG. 1. One way to do this is to pinch together a little fold of said fabric and insert this into the notch 20 and pull said fold in a direction normal to the plane of the device 10 so as to spread hooks 15 apart and then force the points of the hooks 15 through said fabric at locations so that punctures 27. will be formed by said hooks which will be spaced apart just about far enough .to locate said device as shown in FIG. 1 with said hooks extending inwardly through said punctures and with an edge portion of said fabric extending downwardly between pointed ends of hooks 15 and the stem 11 of the device. Thus when the hooks 15 are pressed back into the plane of the device 10 after the latter has thus been applied, as shown in FIG. 1, the device will be united with thefabric 25 not only by engagement of the hooks 15 with the punctures 27 in the fabric but by the points of the hooks 15 engaging the fabric edge portion where it lies between these points and the central stem 11 of the device. The device 10 is thus securely attached to the fabric 25 so that :the garment embodying said fabric may even be sent to the cleaners or laundered without the device 10 being lost in the process.

In FIG. 1 the viewer is looking upwardly at the bottom of seam 26 and at the aspect of the device 10, after the latter has been secured to the extra fabric 25 alongside said seam, which is presented to the shoulder of the wearer of the garment 24. It is readily apparent that the device 10 thus mounted in the garment 24 will lie fiat against the shoulder of the wearer of the garment without causing discomfort.

The serviceability of the device 10 comes into play when the garment 24 is put on over an undergarment such as a slip 28 having shoulder straps 29 as shown in FIG. 4. The garment 24 is of course equipped with one of the devices on each side of the garment directly over the shoulders of the wearer and it is a very simple matter now for the wearer of the garment to feed each shoulder strap 29 into the notch 19 formed in the split eye 18 and, by twisting said eye to displace the ends of the jaws 16 thereof, slip the strap 29 between said jaws and into the eye 18. The straps 29 of the slip 28 are thus respectively captured in the split eyes 18 of the devices 10 provided in garment 24 and held in position over the shoulders so that these straps cannot work downwardly over the arms or show at the neck line as they otherwise tend to do.

It is to be noted in FIG. 4 that the devices 10 are preferably installed in the garment 24 so they can be swung forwardly from directly above the shoulder, whereby the shoulder straps 29 will be gripped by the serrations 17 in the holding eyes 18, thus permitting the wearer of the garment 24 equipped with devices 10 to employ said devices to hold the front upper edge of the slip 29 at a desired horizontal level relative to the shoulder of the wearer.

While the preferable way of mounting the device 10 in a garment 24 is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, it is not limited to being mounted in this manner, as shown by the alternative modes of sewing the device 10 onto said garment illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2, the device 10 is shown as secured to a piece of fabric 30 by thread loops 31 which extend around cross member portions 13 of the device. In FIG. 3 is shown a second alternative mode of sewing the device 10 onto a piece of fabric 32, in which thread loops 33 are employed which extend around the central stem 11 of the device.

While, for illustrative purposes only, a single specific embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein,

it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in this without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

The claims are:

1. A device provided to be fastened within an outer garment for guiding a shoulder strap supporting an undergarment, said device comprising a central unifying stern, and cross members integral with opposite ends of said stem and extending in opposite directions therefrom in a common plane with said stem, said cross members on one side of said stern having end portions which comprisehooks which curve inwardly in said plane, said hooks being provided at their free ends with sharp points, which are adapted to pierce through the fabric of an outer garment, which points are positioned in close proximity with each other and with said stem, said cross members, on the other side of said stem, having end portions which extend towards each other in said plane in substantial alignment, and into close proximity at their ends with each other, to provide a split strap receiving eye.

' 2. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein the inside edges of said aligned cross member end portions are serrated.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 487,043 11/1892 Ziegler 24-77 965,370 7/1910 Comstock 24-163 1,272,675 7/1918 King 24-77 2,099,199 11/1937 Devendor et a1. 24198 2,595,139 4/1952 Hart 24200 X FOREIGN PATENTS 445,419 4/1936 Great Britain.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

E. SIMONSEN, Assistant Examineri 

1. A DEVICE PROVIDED TO BE FASTENED WITHIN AN OUTER GARMENT FOR GUIDING A SHOULDER STRAP SUPPORTING AN UNDERGARMENT, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING A CENTRAL UNIFYING STEM, AND CROSS MEMBERS INTEGRAL WITH OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID STEM AND EXTENDING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS THEREFROM IN A COMMON PLANE WITH SAID STEM, SAID CROSS MEMBERS ON ONE SIDE OF SAID STEM HAVING END PORTIONS WHICH COMPRISE HOOKS WHICH CURVE INWARDLY IN SAID PLANE, SAID HOOKS BEING PROVIDED AT THEIR FREE ENDS WITH SHARP POINTS, WHICH ARE ADAPTED TO PIERCE THROUGH THE FABRIC OF AN OUTER GARMENT, WHICH POINTS ARE POSITIONED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH SAID STEM, SAID CROSS MEMBERS, ON THE OTHER SIDE STEM, HAVING END PORTIONS WHICH EXTEND TOWARDS EACH OTHER IN SAID PLANE IN SUBSTANTIAL ALIGNMENT, AND INTO CLOSE PROXIMITY AT THEIR ENDS WITH EACH OTHER, TO PROVIDE A SPLIT STRAP RECEIVING EYE. 